TEACHING AND LEARNING STANDARD
INSTRUCTION
The quality of instruction in a school is the single most important factor affecting the quality of student learning and is the link between curriculum, learning expectations, and student performance. Instructional practice must be grounded in the school’s mission and expectations for student learning, supported by research in best practice, and refined and improved based on identified student needs. Consequently, teachers are expected to be reflective about their instructional practices and participate in professional dialogue with their colleagues about instruction and student learning.
Conclusions
There is clear evidence that a number of teachers are familiar with the Georges Valley High School’s Mission Statement and Expectations for Student Learning. Although each classroom had the mission statement and student expectations for learning posted however, some teachers and support members are still in the process of familiarizing themselves with this document. In some classes, teachers are clearly utilizing instructional practices that support the school’s mission and expectations, and students are able to demonstrate higher order thinking and creativity. Samples of student work show a range of tasks from basic recall and recognition to application and analysis. A variety of instructional techniques were observed such as individual projects, small group work, computer-based projects, inquiry-based lessons, hands-on skill building, and challenging activities. These techniques attempt to meet the students’ learning styles. However, such techniques were not seen in all classes, and students report that some classes remain predominantly lecture-based. Also, school wide implementation of the mission statement to guide instructional strategies has not yet taken place. If best practices relative to student learning are not used to guide instruction, there will be inconsistent levels of student achievement of the school’s expectations for student learning and the standards of the Maine Learning Results. (student work, students, teachers, self-study, observation, student shadowing)
In many classrooms, there are instructional practices that personalize instruction. Small group work is being done, and teachers circulate to discuss issues with individual students. Teachers firmly believe that spending 1:1 time with students before and after school is valuable and important, but this time is no longer available as a result of the restructuring of the school day to provide needed common planning time for teachers. As a result, students are unable to access the level of individualized help and contact that they had. Programs such as ADC (advisory, directed study, and collaborative) and Junior Journey are designed to help students become active self-directed learners and to prepare them for their futures. ADC provides opportunities for small groups of students to focus on academic plans and discuss their futures and includes the implementation of an expectations portfolio for freshmen. Junior Journey teaches life skills such as resume-making, CPR, and money management. The small school size does facilitate informal interactions between teachers in different content areas, but there is no formal system in place to make instructional connections across disciplines. Consequently, instructional practices to ensure equitable student learning vary greatly among disciplines. Art, music, and technology classes provide some opportunities for students to choose topics of interest and direct their own learning. In addition, these classes provide a forum for students to share their knowledge and learning. Thus, these classes tend to have large enrollments and high levels of actively engaged students. While many teachers challenge students to think creatively and provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge through projects, public displays, performances, and technology, these are not universal practices at Georges Valley. At times, self-selection of courses also results in students taking classes that are not personally challenging. Observations, examination of student work, and meetings with students indicate there is a need for more rigor as well as depth of understanding over breadth of knowledge in many courses. A number of classes were lecture-based. Assessments seen were frequently traditional tasks that measured lower order thinking skills. The pace of many classes is very slow, and opportunities to demonstrate application of knowledge or learning vary from teacher to teacher and content area to content area. All these issues taken as a whole highlight the need to investigate and employ best instructional practices to ensure an equitable and rigorous learning environment. Without this environment, student learning and achievement will suffer greatly. (self-study, observation, student shadowing, teachers, students, student work)
While some teachers provide opportunities for self-assessment of student learning, this practice is both inconsistent and limited. At Georges Valley High School most students remain dependent on adults for feedback on their work. Without training and the opportunity to practice self-reflection related to their work in a consistent and ongoing manner, students are denied valuable opportunities to develop such skills as self-analysis, critical thinking, and responsibility for their own learning. (self-study, students, teachers)
Formal evaluations of teachers are conducted every three years, but teachers report that these evaluations do not have much of an impact on their instructional practices as no formal direction or suggestion for change occurs in the evaluation process. If that does take place, it is not followed up to see if suggested changes have been made. Formal and informal mentoring provided by the district used to take place, providing new teachers with needed feedback and support; however, the local certification and mentor program are not in place this year, limiting opportunities for peer feedback to guide instructional practices. Students are not provided formal opportunities to provide feedback to their teachers regarding instructional practices. Further, no time is provided for teacher self-reflection regarding the link of instructional practices to student achievement. This lack of feedback, both formal and informal from all these crucial resources results in the absence of motivation and direction for improvement of instructional practices to better fulfill the needs of students’ academic achievement and academic rigor. (self-study, teachers, students)
Teachers are knowledgeable and confident in their respective content areas, but knowledge of research on best instructional practices and opportunity to reflect on their own instructional practices in relationship to current research are missing. This results in just maintaining the status quo. The principal does share articles dealing with instructional issues with the faculty, but no structured time is provided to allow for ongoing professional study circles or topic studies around current research on best instructional practices. As a result, many teachers are not employing best instructional practices negatively impacting student achievement and academic rigor. (self-study, teacher interviews, observation, teachers, student shadowing)
Significant amounts of time have recently been allocated in the newly instituted common planning time used currently for creating local assessments and rubrics as well as alignment of the curriculum to the school’s expectations for student learning and the Maine Learning Results. However, no time has been given for discussion, either formal or informal, about student work as related to instructional practice. Without opportunity for discussion and self-reflection regarding instructional practices, teachers cannot improve curriculum delivery in order to ensure equity of student learning. (self-study, teachers, student work, observation)
There is neither adequate time nor funding for the continuous improvement of instructional practices. This results in lowered parent satisfaction with the instruction their children receive. Also, because some teachers need to go from room to room as a result of space restrictions and conflicts, instruction time and practice is negatively impacted. In addition, these teachers are also unable to utilize their space for planning, and they cannot display excellent student work. Time spent in moving could be spent on instructional planning and meeting with students. Teachers report that staff development in improvement of instructional strategies is severely limited as there is no formal, district or building level plan for staff development, but it is left to the “whims” of teachers and administrators. Time is also a major factor here as the common planning time has been structured to address only assessment, accreditation, and PET’s. Consequently, teachers are unable to remain as instructionally current as they would like to be. Lack of knowledge and use of best instructional practices negatively affects student achievement of both the school’s expectations for student learning and the standards of the Maine Learning Results. (self- study, surveys, parents, teachers, students)
Georges Valley High School is part of the Maine Laptop Initiative that will provide laptops for all Grade 9 students as well as Grade 9 teachers. The MSAD #50 Board of Directors has committed funds to continue the laptop initiative for the next three years as well as to provide all teachers with a laptop over this time period. As a result, all high school students and teachers will have a laptop for their use by 2007. All classrooms have at least one computer and some have several. A computer laboratory is open for general student use, and the library has seven laptops available for student use. Parents and teachers correspond through e-mails regarding students’ progress and/or needs. As a tool for learning, however, the depth of the use of technology to improve learning for all students varies greatly from teacher to teacher, content area to content area and course to course. Equity of learning and the rigorousness of learning are inconsistent. Student progress and attendance are being tracked through PowerGrade/PowerSchool. Power Point presentations, Internet research, graphing calculators, video productions, software applications, and increasing wireless connections are examples of the widespread use of technology. As a result, students have many opportunities to utilize technology, and parents feel better connected to and able to communicate with the school staff and faculty. (self-study, parents, teachers, teacher interviews, students, observation, student work)
Professional development opportunities for faculty members are provided but are done piecemeal and are not aligned to the school’s mission and expectations for student learning. Faculty members report that staff development is reactive rather than proactive and that no school or district-wide needs assessment has been made to determine the specific needs of teachers to develop a needs-based long-range plan for staff development that addresses the skills teachers need to ensure that students receive an equitable and rigorous academic program so that all students achieve both the school’s expectations for student learning and the standards of the Maine Learning Results. Not knowing what teachers need relative to best instructional practices and providing for that need, limits instruction to tried and true methods or to experimentation with no basis in research. (self-study, teacher interviews, teachers, school leadership team)
Teachers set annual goals with the administrator and are formally evaluated every three years. The formal evaluation form addresses instructional skills, classroom management skills, and professional/interpersonal skills and although there are 20 indicators in the evaluation form relating to instruction, only seven address skills related to instruction. The evaluation process is not aligned to the mission statement or to instructional practices that facilitate student achievement of the school’s expectations for student learning or the standards of the Maine Learning Results. As a result, evaluative feedback is not adequate to address current instructional needs. In fact, most staff members indicate that the formal evaluation process does not guide improvement of instructional practices in their classroom. (self-study, teachers, teacher interviews)
Commendations:
Recommendations:
Previous
~ Table of Contents ~ Next
Accreditation
Index ~GVHS Home ~MSAD#50